LOT'S WIFE.



IN traveling over the Rocky Mountains we see rocks, and mountains of rocks, many of which look as though they had been carved by a very skillful artist, as indeed they were; for they are natural curiosities. One in particular of which I wish to speak is a limestone, standing erect, five or six feet high, and resembling what we might imagine Lot's wife to look like after turning to salt; therefore somebody has given it the name of "Lot's wife."

As I was riding through there on the cars, I heard the conductor talking to a man about the Bible and saying many harsh things against it. He said he was not foolish enough to believe it. Soon we came to this rock, and the man to whom he was talking announced "Lot's wife." The conductor said to him, " Who was the author of that story of Lot's wife?" 

The gentleman whom he addressed did not know; but after some talk upon the subject, they concluded it was Shakspeare. This circumstance told one reason why they were not Bible believers; they knew not what was in it. People cannot intelligently believe what they know nothing about. 

They had not read the story of how two angels came to Lot's house just before the destruction of Sodom, warning him to leave the place, for they had come to destroy the city. Lot was the only just man among all the people of that large town, and because he believed the Lord and obeyed his voice, the Lord desired to save him, and his family with him; so the angels told them to flee for their lives, and not stop to look back. Lot's wife did not do just as she was told, but looked back to see the burning city, and the result was that she became a pillar of salt.

As the children read the different events recorded in the Bible, and the stories about Joseph, Samuel, Moses, and the deliverance of the children of Israel; of the childhood of Jesus, his mission to the world, and why it was necessary, they will love to believe it to be God's word. It will teach them that its Author is also the Maker of the natural beauties around us; and that we can read his love in the grass of the field, in every flower and shrub, and in the birds that fly in the air; for he cares for even the sparrows, and much more for those who are made in his own image.





NETTIE T. HOLT.